WALES — When Chris Jones gathered his friends to make a movie, the 18-year-old filmmaker began with a warning.

“I told the whole crew when we started it, ‘Every day is going to be the same,'” Jones said. “We’re going to wake up. We’re going to be happy to film friends. We’re going to hate each other by the end of the day. The next day, we’re going to get up and do the same thing.”

It didn’t work out that way.

The biggest obstacle to completing a whip-fast, eight-day shooting schedule was their own laughter. As principal photography ended Friday, Jones, the director, figured he had a least 30 minutes of laughter-filled outtakes.

“It’s tough,” Stephanie Paradis, 18, of Litchfield, said. “You do have all your friends standing around watching you.”

Despite the laughter, “The Admin Effect,” will be a thriller.

The story involves an evil high school principal, played by Kenyon Fraser, 17, of Litchfield. His character, Mr. Smith, finds a way of brainwashing students and their parents. But a few teens figure out what’s happening, rescue their girlfriends and ignite a fight with Smith and his minions.

It all started as a commercial for a movie that didn’t exist.

In February, Jones and his buddies created an entry in an Oak Hill High School movie trailer competition. And they won.

The trailer is a five-minute romp that references everything from the Matrix’s too-cool villain, Agent Smith, to Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s ability as a neck breaker. It can be viewed at the movie’s Internet site, theadmineffect.com.

“People kept saying they wanted to see the whole movie,” Jones said. Finally, he agreed.

He and Fraser wrote a script and began gathering friends, mostly seniors at the school. They included Elijah Washburn, Caleb Meservey and Cody DePuy, all 18 of Litchfield, Robbie Doyon, 19, of Litchfield, Kayla Smart, 17, of Litchfield and Jack Champagne, 18, of Wales. Besides acting, Washburn worked on casting. Paradis worked on production design.

All helped raise money.

With about $1,300, mostly donated by family members, the group bought a high-definition Canon video camera and put it to use.

“My whole thought process on the movie is not so much ‘Let’s try to compete with Hollywood,’ because we can’t. My thought is, we had fun making it. So what if we had a few mistakes. We’re trying to do as best we can with what we have. And overall, if we can tell a story and it looks good in our eyes, I had fun and I enjoyed it.”

They filmed at the school, their homes and in downtown Lewiston.

“We learned a lot,” Paradis said. Much of that comes out when they’re at home watching TV shows or movies.

They imagine the crews just off camera, complaining about setting up equipment for shots that will last only two seconds in the finished film. And they imagine the griping about the director.

“You watch and say, ‘Yup, they hate their director right now,'” Fraser said.

Jones plans to assemble the footage for the film in the next few days, share it with the group and finalize the project over the next three weeks. Their aim is for a feature length of 80 or 90 minutes.

And like so many Hollywood productions, this one has locked up a date for its release.

It’ll be July 28.

The group plans to rent a screen at Flagship Cinemas in Lewiston and sell tickets for $5 each.

They hope to shock the folks who loved the trailer.

“I love the fact that people love our trailer, because we know our trailer isn’t as good as our movie,” Jones said. “We’re already one step ahead.”

The final product would likely get a PG-13 rating, Jones said. Not that a big-time ratings board will ever see the project.

“We know we can’t do any ultra-violence,” Washburn said. “We’re marketing to our families.”

They all look forward to seeing their work on the big screen.

“I think, to a certain extent, it’s to show our parents, ‘Look we can do this,'” Paradis said.